supporting learners with dyslexia a2 keys for schools b1 preliminary for schools and b2 first for schools a guide for teachers

5 Teaching learners with dyslexia ...6 Developing inclusive learning environments ...8 Assessment and feedback .... With lots of practical tips and ideas for lesson plans, it will help y

Supporting learners with dyslexia:

A guide for teachers

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Contents

Who this guide is for 3

How to use this guide 3

Key terminology 4

Background to learners with dyslexia 5

Teaching learners with dyslexia 6

Developing inclusive learning environments 8

Assessment and feedback 10

Planning inclusive lessons 12

Preparing learners with dyslexia for Cambridge English Qualifications 13

Preparing for the Reading paper 14

Preparing for the Writing paper 18

Preparing for the Listening paper 22

Preparing for the Speaking paper 26

Learners with a disability or special requirements 28

Extra resources 29

Who this guide is for

Many teachers have learners with dyslexia in their exam preparation classes This guide is for you

With lots of practical tips and ideas for lesson plans, it will help you prepare materials to support learners with dyslexia in preparation for our qualifications – A2 Key for Schools, B1 Preliminary for Schools and B2 First for Schools

About Cambridge English Qualifications

Learning English is about more than just exams and grades It’s about having the confidence to communicate and access a lifetime of enriching experiences and opportunities Cambridge English Qualifications are designed specifically for school-age learners, giving them regular milestones to keep them motivated.

For more information on each exam see cambridgeenglish.org/schools or click on each exam

name below:

How to use this guide

• Try the practical ideas in the Activity pages and reflect on how these techniques affect the

processes of learning and teaching in your classroom.

• Think about your learners’ different learning styles, needs and preferences and consider what approaches are most helpful to them.

• You can navigate the document by using the hyperlinks in the text and the buttons on each spread:

Previous page Next page First page Previous view

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Key terminology

Dyslexia and language assessment are specialist fields and there is some common terminology which might be unfamiliar to you Learning to recognise these terms will help you to understand this guide

Specific Learning Difficulty (SpLD)

A difference or difficulty with particular aspects of learning

The most commonly diagnosed SpLDs are dyslexia, dyspraxia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyscalculia and dysgraphia These differences may be overlapping or occur simultaneously

Special Educational Needs and

There are also some other terms in this guide which are more widely used in the field of assessment When these terms appear in this guide, you’ll find an explanation nearby in a glossary box like this:

The Common European Framework of

Reference (CEFR) is an international standard

for describing language ability It uses a six-point

scale, from A1 for beginners up to C2 for those

who have mastered a language This makes it easy for anyone involved in language teaching and testing, such as teachers or learners, to see the level of different qualifications

Background to learners with dyslexia

Dyslexia is a type of Specific Learning Difficulty (SpLD) that is thought to be present at birth and have lifelong effects Learning difficulties are not related to a person’s intelligence, but are caused by differences in the ways the brain processes information, and vary greatly from person

to person Dyslexia mainly affects the development of literacy and language-related skills, and learners with dyslexia are likely to encounter significant challenges with phonological processing, working memory and processing speed.

Phonological processing

Using the sounds of one’s language (phonemes) to process spoken and written language Learners with dyslexia may struggle to distinguish between different sounds, and their reading may be slow or imprecise

Working memory

The amount of information that can be held in mind and used in carrying out tasks Learners with dyslexia may struggle with remembering information such as instructions, new vocabulary words, or the content of reading or listening texts

Processing speed

The pace at which we take in information, make sense of it, and begin to respond

Learners with dyslexia may find it difficult to work out rules and patterns of language usage or make sense of information in spoken or written texts

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Teaching learners with dyslexia

Reading in English

While learners with dyslexia frequently have good visual spatial skills, they often struggle with fluent, accurate reading This can affect their reading comprehension as they may be able to sound out words but struggle with their meaning This can make learners with dyslexia feel uncomfortable reading aloud and they are likely to misread or mix up common words So as a teacher, give support for your learners to help distinguish words with similar spellings

Writing in English

Learners with dyslexia often demonstrate strong creative, imaginative and practical skills, but may struggle with copying work from the board, and need support with handwriting, which is likely to

be unclear or illegible Difficulty with spelling and poorly structured, or disorganised written work, are also typical features of learners with dyslexia, as they may know the words they need but you will need to support them with spelling and organising their ideas

Listening in English

While they tend to have good interpersonal skills, learners with dyslexia may find recalling and following instructions challenging, and they are likely

to struggle with phonological awareness, especially

at a phonemic level So you may need to give guidance to help write down what they hear

Speaking in English

While learners with dyslexia tend to have a sophisticated receptive vocabulary, they are typically less sensitive to English phonology, and so you may need to help them with reproducing and discriminating between sounds They may also speak with lots of pauses as they search for the words to use, so it is good to be aware of this when you are doing pronunciation and speaking activities

Because the challenges of dyslexia vary from person to person, the focus should be on making the learning

environment as inclusive and supportive as possible.

Top tip: see Activities

Pages 13 to 27 describe comprehensive lesson

plans to support learners with dyslexia in preparing for different parts of our qualifications

Key terminology

Inclusivity

‘Inclusion is a sense of belonging: feeling respected, valued for who you are; feeling a level

of supportive energy and commitment from others so that you can do your best work.’

Developing inclusive learning environments

Create a supportive and collaborative classroom culture by getting to know all of your learners

as individuals and encouraging them to get to know each other This will help learners feel comfortable reflecting on task approaches and asking for support.

Give learners opportunities to work in different groupings and encourage peer assessment so that

learners get used to supporting each other

Have L-shaped cards available for learners to frame sections

of overcrowded textbook pages and help focus their attention

Encourage learners to use a plain piece of paper to cover reading texts and reveal one line at a time as they read

These are useful techniques for all learners when you are teaching reading skills.

Offer learners choices in how they engage with tasks to make learning more meaningful and

inclusive For example, learners might ‘draw’ rather than write notes during a listening task or

while preparing for a speaking task The Listening activity helps you practise this.

Encourage learners to reflect on their learning processes and discuss how they approached a task

or reached a particular answer.

Allocate time to explicitly teach exam strategies, such as how to approach particular tasks in the exam, and break these down into a series of simple steps.

Key terminology

Peer assessment is when learners give each other feedback

on their language, work, learning strategies or performance

Research shows that learners who are similar to each other

in age, gender, first language and learning goals provide motivating role models for each other

Top tips

Handouts

• Give any printed handouts to learners on pastel-coloured paper to support learners with visual processing difficulties

• Make sure written handouts are clear and dyslexic-friendly

• Try to make sure that sentences don’t ‘run over’ onto the next line

• Use larger fonts without serifs, double spacing between lines, and with an extra line space between paragraphs

For example:

so it can be difficult to read

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Assessment and feedback

Top tips

• Assessment isn’t just about correcting mistakes, but is a process which involves gathering information in order to identify where a learner might need additional support or practice

• Adopting different approaches to feedback is particularly helpful Hearing the teacher’s voice can feel more personal and supportive than receiving written feedback in red pen You could make a short video

or voice recording with your comments

• Formative assessment is about learning from feedback It’s not necessary to identify every mistake a

learner makes This can take a lot of time for you and give your learners the impression that they never

do anything right! Just as we don’t try to teach every grammar point in one lesson, we shouldn’t try

to develop every aspect of language every time we give feedback Be selective about the mistakes you correct, focusing on words that are easily confused and relationships between spelling and phonology

• In the classroom, assessment isn’t the end of the learning process If you give something back to a learner to correct, remember to check the next version and then give them feedback on this too The challenges that learners with dyslexia experience in learning often lead to low levels of confidence

Ensure you include positive aspects in feedback to encourage learners and build self-esteem

• Feedback is very personal Talk to learners about what feedback they appreciate and work together to find what works best for them

Key terminology

Formative assessment is when a teacher gives

learners feedback on their progress during a course, rather than at the end of it, so that the learners can learn from the feedback

Planning inclusive lessons

All learners can become overwhelmed by tasks and activities that require them to think about lots of different things at once, and this applies to learners with dyslexia too You may be familiar with many of these suggestions, as they benefit all learners, but they are especially supportive for learners with dyslexia.

chunks so as not to overload learners, and focus on key and core language from the

exam wordlists

using concept-checking questions to

assess their understanding

to give learners more than one way to make connections and learn concepts For example, use flash cards, puppets, story videos and real

objects in the classroom The Speaking activity

has a good example of this

and practise pronunciation features, such as word and sentence stress

pictures or mind maps to accompany written texts, or where appropriate, encourage learners

to create their own

recap and review material, especially from the

A2 and B1 wordlists.

memorise new words, including drawing, music or rhythm, movement, gesture and visualisation techniques

vocabulary and pronunciation features, as these are often more accessible for learners with dyslexia

Key terminology

Concept-Checking Questions (CCQs) are

designed to check or support a learner’s understanding of a new word or grammatical item, and offer more reliable insight than just asking ‘Do you understand?’ Example CCQs for the adjective

quick might be: ‘What things do you know that

are quick?’, ‘What’s the opposite of quick?’ or ‘Are snails quick?’ Or you could use pictures of objects

or gestures to check understanding

With multisensory input and practice, learners

use more than one sense at a time and so the brain

is stimulated in a variety of ways Multisensory activities may involve a combination of reading, listening, viewing, touching an object, moving physically around the space, or using gesture

Activities

Preparing learners with dyslexia for Cambridge English Qualifications

With the need for inclusivity in creating a successful learning environment for all learners, here

are some lesson plans for helping your learners prepare for A2 Key for Schools, B1 Preliminary for Schools and B2 First for Schools

Note that in the live exam there is an option for learners with dyslexia to have the modified large print (MLP) version of the question paper with drawings removed, to make the page less cluttered and allow larger and standardised fonts in a paper You can discover more about modified large

print and download papers at cambridgeenglish.org/help/special-requirements It is still a

good idea to use images in the classroom to practise vocabulary and generate ideas The following activities contain ideas which use visuals in class.

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Preparing for the Reading paper

Activity 1: Reading Aims

This lesson supports learners with dyslexia in preparing for the Reading paper by:

• building confidence by activating word knowledge prior to reading

• practising explicit reading strategies such as reading for meaning and gist comprehension

• supporting learners in decoding written words with audio support by reading the text aloud

Preparation

1 Download a sample Reading paper for the exam from our website

A2 Key for Schools: Reading and Writing Part 4 B1 Preliminary for Schools: Reading Part 5 B2 First for Schools: Reading and Use of English Part 1

2 Download the attached printout for the pre-learning activity table.

Pre-learning

Depending on how much time you have available in the lesson, you might want to set this task for homework Explain to learners that they will need their answers to complete an exam task in the next class

1 Select the choice cloze text you will work on with the learners From the six or eight multiple-choice questions under the text, give each learner one row of words to learn so that each learner learns four words in total, one from each of the columns A to D Give learners a blank copy of the attached table

to complete (the copy below includes example B2 words) Giving learners the opportunity to look at key vocabulary for the lesson will help build their confidence Allowing time for learners to think about the vocabulary without time pressures results in more effective vocabulary development

Word Part of speech Meaning Typical combinations (‘collocations’)

discover new information

• Carry out/do research into language

development

• a research project

in order to discover new information about it

• He spent several years researching African languages

• She is researching for her English essay.

If some words can be both a noun and a verb, encourage learners to write both entries This activity is about helping learners to become familiar with the word itself rather than finding a fixed definition or

correct answer See Adaptation 1.

Activity 1: Reading

2 Once learners have completed their tables, ask them to work together in pairs to share one word that

they learned and its meaning

3 Monitor the above stage closely so that when doing whole-class feedback, you can ask one of the learners whose answer was correct to give you the answer Be sensitive when getting feedback; some learners may not feel comfortable speaking aloud and may learn a lot from hearing others talk

4 When checking the answers, ask questions that stretch and challenge learners, but also ensure understanding Questions you could ask are:

• Did anyone learn a new word? What does that word mean?

• What did you notice about the types of words? Were they all verbs, nouns or adjectives?

• Were there any words that sounded similar or were spelled similarly?

Familiarisation with the text

Give learners the text Think carefully about the layout of the text, making sure learners can access the

text and learn vocabulary

1 Read the text to learners and ask them at this point to just listen and read along This is so that the text can become familiar For some learners, following a text as you read can be quite challenging Don’t rush through the text Pause to allow learners to catch up and to get an overall sense of the meaning

2 Now tell learners that they are going to work on the text again, but this time in groups Put students

in small groups of mixed abilities Give each learner a specific task, for example, one learner can read one line out loud, another can read the next line etc You could give a learner with dyslexia the task of

underlining any unknown words, so that they have an active role in the group See Adaptation 2.

3 Now read the text aloud again, but this time, at the end of each sentence or each paragraph, pause and use questioning techniques to make sure everyone understands the text Questions you might want to ask are:

• What is this paragraph/sentence about?

• Which people/groups of people are mentioned in this paragraph?

• Which words were interesting and why? (At this point, if no one offers anything, you could draw attention to words which you think may have been a challenge.)

• What surprised you in this sentence/paragraph/text?

Adaptation 1

For some learners, writing in a table may be a challenge This is not a writing task If your learners can record their responses and send the audio files

to you, or create a mind map of their responses, then this will allow them to achieve the same outcome

Adaptation 2

Instead of asking learners to underline unknown words, ask them to underline the words that they

do know This will increase their confidence if they see how much they can understand

Activity 1: Reading Exam task

1 Still in small groups, give learners all the questions with the multiple-choice options (A–D) Ask learners

to share their definitions of words A–D from the pre-learning task Take time to read each word, sounding

it out slowly to allow learners to get used to the syllables You can allow learners to read some of the words aloud but avoid forcing anyone to speak

If you record learners’ definitions on the board, be aware that for learners with dyslexia, moving from their book to the board can be challenging If you do write on the board, be conscious of your handwriting, don’t write too much, and read aloud what you’ve written

2 Tell learners that you are going to read the text again, line by line, and try to fill in the blanks together At this point, learners have researched four words and will have heard other learners’ responses on other words This should make learners feel more confident with the text itself Go through one example yourself, by reading each sentence, and when you come to the first blank, go through each word in that line to see if it fits Again, use questioning techniques to help learners develop confidence in selecting the right word For example:

• Are we looking for a noun, verb or adjective here? Why?

• Is there a word that you would not choose? Why?

• Are there words before or after the gap that collocate/combine with any of the options?

3 In their groups, ask learners to complete the rest of the sentences using the above technique When everyone has completed the task, give learners a completed text and ask them to self-correct Monitor closely to see if there are any answers which you will need to correct or explain

Follow-up/Homework

To help you assess whether all learners have understood the words they were given and can now use them

in other contexts, ask learners to go back to the table in the pre-learning stage and:

• add synonyms or antonyms for each word

• choose one of the words they learned and use it in a sentence

• write the definition of one of the words they learned for homework

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Preparing for the Writing paper

Activity 2: Writing Aims

This lesson supports learners with dyslexia in preparing for the Writing paper by:

• activating the language needed for a writing task by identifying useful words and linguistic structures

• helping them focus on organisational and structural features of writing

• generating content without feeling held back by technical challenges

Preparation

Download a sample Writing paper for the exam from our website

A2 Key for Schools: Writing Part 6 B1 Preliminary for Schools: Writing Part 1 or 2 B2 First for Schools: Writing Part 1 or 2

Introducing the writing task

Make a printed copy of the question from the Writing paper for each learner and read the question

aloud Use concept-checking questions to ensure that learners understand the writing question and

task instructions

Activating language

1 Ask learners in pairs to look at the question and highlight or circle the key words in the task instructions

Feed back as a whole group, ensuring learners have chosen the key words, and asking them to explain why they’ve chosen them

2 Explain that based on the key words, learners are going to brainstorm words and phrases that might be useful for the task, and organise their ideas in a mind map Demonstrate on the board by writing the key word(s) in a circle in the centre of the board Remember to write clearly and slowly, to support learners with dyslexia in following the task instructions Elicit a few words or phrases that might be useful for the writing task, and write these in ‘bubbles’ around the central circle, making connections as you build a mind map example on the board To make the task more inclusive, for some of the words you add to the board, also draw a small picture or doodle to represent the word

3 Now explain that learners should make their own mind map Give them the choice between writing phrases, drawing pictures to represent them, or a combination of the two

Activity 2: Writing Planning writing

1 Explain to the class that learners are going to make a visual plan of what their written text will look like

Draw a picture of a road on the board Give each learner a large piece of paper and ask them to draw a road on the paper Learners with dyslexia often find the organisational features of writing challenging when producing a written text Allowing them to plan their writing in a visual way helps them to use their creative, imaginative and practical skills to support their planning and organisation

2 Read the task question again to focus learners’ attention Explain that learners are going to make notes

of their ideas and organise these on their road map Explain that the beginning of the road will be their introduction, the end of the road will be their conclusion, and they can have several ‘stops’ in-between

Before learners start, give them sticky notes on which to write or draw their ideas, and demonstrate that they should stick these notes to their map, thinking about where along the road their ideas would work best

Reviewing the plan

Now that learners have their road map, ask them to show it to a partner and describe the plan they have made At this point, learners can move their sticky notes around if they want to reorganise any of their ideas Monitor closely, support learners with language, and make a note of any spelling issues

Spelling focus

1 Now explain that you are going to spend a short time focusing on spelling Ask each learner, or pair

of learners, to look at their notes and identify one or two words which they need help to spell Elicit answers from each learner (or pair) in turn, and write the word clearly on the board between two lines, saying each letter aloud as you write

2 Explain that the letters that go above the line (l, in this example), have ‘heads’, and that letters that go below the line (p and g, in this example), have ‘tails’

Ask learners to tell you which other letters in the alphabet have heads/tails Encourage learners to notice details about the spelling, by asking:

• How many letters are there? • How many heads are there? • How many tails are there?

Give learners lined paper, and ask them to practise writing the word between the lines

For words that are particularly difficult to spell, try to think of a mnemonic to help learners

remember the correct spelling, and write it clearly on the board

s p e l l i n g